"INTO THE DEN OF THE DEATH DEALERS!"
Story by: Denny O'Neil | Art by: Bob Brown & Dick Giordano
Story by: Denny O'Neil | Art by: Bob Brown & Dick Giordano
"DAUGHTER OF THE DEMON"
Story by: Denny O'Neil | Art by: Neal Adams & Dick Giordano | Edited by: Julius Schwartz
Story by: Denny O'Neil | Art by: Neal Adams & Dick Giordano | Edited by: Julius Schwartz
Note: Screenshots below come from BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS VOLUME 2 and are not representative of these stories' original colors (the covers are presented as published, however).
Of course, I still don't know the honest-to-goodness right way to say it; maybe the ANIMATED SERIES folks were wrong and Christopher Nolan got it right. But to me, for the rest of my life, I'll keep on saying "Raysh".
Anyway. Thanks to his sparse appearances on THE ANIMATED SERIES, specifically his debut in "The Demon's Quest" and his cameo in "Off Balance", which preceded it, Ra's al Ghul quickly became one of my favorite Batman villains. It's no surprise; I've always loved "mastermind" types more than any other sort of villain (see my love of Mister Sinister and the original Hobgoblin over at Marvel) -- plus, racist though it is, I've long been interested in the "Yellow Peril" trope. And, while Arabic by birth, al Ghul essentially is exactly that sort of character
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we meet the Demon's Head, we need an introduction to his beautiful daughter, Talia!
"Into the Den of the Death-Dealers!" finds Denny O'Neil and Bob Brown continuing the "League of Assassins" story they had started around six months earlier in DETECTIVE COMICS 405 and 406. Atop Gotham's Statue of Freedom, Batman meets an informant with information on the League -- but the man is killed by League operatives. With his dying breath, he tells Batman to find Doctor Darrk on the Soom Express railroad somewhere in Asia. In disguise, Batman trails Darrk and a young woman aboard the train and then off of it. Batman is captured by Darrk's men and fights a bull in order to escape with both the girl, and with Darrk as his captive. On the train tracks near Darrk's lair, the villain pulls a knife on Batman, and the girl shoots him, sending him tumbling into the path of an oncoming train."The night breathes soot-colored fog... and there is a stillness broken only by gasps of wind and the muffled lapping of the sea. Across the bay, the lights of the city grow dimly, coldly, like beacons of hell...
Silent a motionless as a bird of prey, the dread Batman perches atop the Statue of Freedom, waiting, waiting...
At this time, this place, it begins... a terror-fraught journey by... the Batman--into the den of the death-dealers!"
The girl, by the way, is named Talia, and during the course of this story she discovers Batman's secret identity. She doesn't quite recognize him (or if she does, she plays it close to the vest), but believes she's seen him in photos. She's also quite different than she will become -- here, Talia says that she studies medicine at the University of Cairo, and she was kidnapped from that school by the League of Assassins as part of their beef with her unnamed father. I don't know if O'Neil intended this to be the truth at the time, but it will become clear as we continue with these stories that what she said here was most likely a lie.
Like "A Vow From the Grave" last week, this story was loosely adapted into a BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES episode called "Off Balance". But really, only two scenes translated directly into the show: the opening sequence atop the Statue of Freedom (sanitized by censors so that the informat "gets away" by jumping a million feet from the top of the statue to the bay below) and the bit where Talia uncovers Batman's identity. Otherwise, "Off Balance" is completely different from "Into the Den of the Death Dealers!"
But the following month's issue of BATMAN features a story which was adapted nearly exactly from comic to screen. BATMAN 232's "Daughter of the Demon" would become THE ANIMATED SERIES' "The Demon's Quest Part 1", an episode scripted by Denny O'Neil himself -- so it's natural that he'd try to translate his own story as best as possible, merely cleaning up a few of the sloppier elements in the process.
"Daughter of the Demon" begins with a chilling scene, as Robin enters his room at Hudson University, only to be gunned down by an unknown intruder. We then cut to Bruce Wayne's penthouse, where he receives a letter stating that Robin has been kidnapped. O'Neil, now reteamed with Neal Adams, sends Batman to the Batcave to analyze the letter (it seems Adams must have had some pull or clout with his writers and editor; most of the stories he's worked on so far have found ways to include the cave and/or the Batmobile, even though Batman had supposedly left them behind circa "One Bullet Too Many"). Curiously, Batman apparently parks outside Wayne Manor and enters the cave through the house, if the artwork is to be believed. Why he doesn't simply drive into the cave, as he did during the Man-Bat story and in countless pre-seventies tales, is unknown -- there's no story reason for him to use an alternate entrance here.
Inside the cave, Batman is startled to find two intruders: Ra's al Ghul and his hulking bodyguard, Ubu. Al Ghul reveals his daughter, Talia, has been kidnapped as well, and he wants Batman's help to find her. Curiously, when al Ghul reveals how he deduced Batman's identity, it has nothing to do with Talia seeing Bruce Wayne's face in the previous story! He simply says that he figured out the sorts of special gadgets Batman needs to fight crime and he found that Wayne was the only person who had bought such equipment. O'Neil's TV adaptation fixes this, revealing that al Ghul used his daughter's description of the man beneath Batman's mask, coupled with Batman's supply chain, to figure it out.
Batman traces the origin of the notes to Calcutta, and he, al Ghul, and Ubu head there immediately. After Batman murders a leopard (in self-defense, but still the only part of this story I find distasteful), he finds a clue that leads him and his companions to the Himalayas. There, inside a cavern fortress, Batman is reunited with Robin. They fight some bad guys, then Batman reveals the mastermind behind the kidnapping: Ra's al Ghul himself!
The only failing I find in "Daughter of the Demon" is its ending. It closes on a bizarre cliffhanger, as al Ghul informs Batman that he wants to retire from his position as head of an international criminal organization, and that Talia is in love with the Caped Crusader. Al Ghul wants Batman to marry his daughther, become his son-in-law, and take over the family business! And on that note, we get a caption telling us to watch for future developments in an upcoming issue.
...So what happened next? It's a really awkward note to end on; did Batman just say "no" and walk out? Al Ghul is still a criminal, after all, and if no other crimes can be proven, at the very least Batman knows he kidnapped Robin. Plus he knows our heroes' secret identities, something Batman has rarely had to deal with in the past. I would've loved to have seen a continuation of this scene showing exactly how and why Batman returned to Gotham City in light of these revelations.
(And this is one area where the cartoon version is clearly superior to the comic, as it does continue the scene, ending the episode on a true cliffhanger which is resolved in part 2 -- an episode adapting an entirely different Ra's al Ghul story which was published more than a year after this one!)
Anyway, I've run far longer on this post than I typically do. I can talk about these issues for hours, if you'll let me, but I'll cut things off here. There's plenty more Ra's al Ghul coming as we continue our voyage through Batman's definitive decade. Let's just close by saying these issues continue the O'Neil trend of a globetrotting Batman, they introduce two huge characters to the pantheon of Batman's rogues' gallery, and they're beautifully drawn. Heck, they even feature a terrific two-page recap of Batman's origin for new readers! They're wonderful stories and true classics in every sense of the word.
Oh man, nice April Fool's Day Banner there.
ReplyDeleteAn incredible banner.
DeleteThanks! I'm strongly considering just leaving it up for the rest of the month since the movie comes out in a few weeks. At the very least, I'll probably keep it up until Friday or Saturday for those who don't show up here every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm always eager to read more classic "Batman" comic reviews like this one.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThat masthead totally wins the Internet, Matt.
I actually did see it April 1st, but didn’t leave a comment figuring I’d return later in the day after reading the comics under discussion, so I’m glad it’s still up.
DeleteWell, I did decide to keep the masthead up all month after all, so you can enjoy it as much as you want.
DeleteI love all these comments here about it too, because someday years from now, when somebody Googles "Batman 232" and stumbles across this page, they'll be left wondering about this stupendous banner that was up for one month in 2019, trying to figure out what it was.
With regards to Raysh vs Roz...hate to break it to you, but Roz is actually more correct. Granted, neither are how it should be pronounced, but Roz is closer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there are families with El-Ghoul (or some variation) as a surname.
At least the name fits and works. As opposed to say, the Arabic they gave Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur, which more or less translates into "Morning Light"...
wwk5d
Thanks for letting me know! I'm not sure I'll ever be able to adapt to the "Roz" pronunciation; I've been saying it the B:TAS way for 25 years now! It's basically reflex at this point.
DeleteI didn't know that about En Sabah Nur, by the way. Funny! I'm not sure what creator originally named him, but they clearly didn't do much research...
DeleteI used to pronounce the “Ra’s” as “razz” in my head, and it stuck, but when I heard “raysh” it made sense because the word for “head” in Hebrew is pronounced “rohsh”. Arabic obviously shares a linguistic family with Hebrew (cf. “salaam”/“shalom”) but I think the equivalent root consonants are more the point than a similarity in pronunciation.
As for En Sabah Nur — keeping in mind that I have no skin in the game in terms of how clever or not any of the creative hands were being and that pretty much my only familiarity with Apocalypse the character is from having read along at Teebore’s — I wouldn’t quibble with “morning light” per se. I acknowledge that language is constantly in flux and meanings shift over time but the usage of “apocalypse” to mean “the end of the world” in a bleak, horrible sense is one of my peeves, as its original meaning is “revelation”… So “post-apocalyptic wasteland” is fine to me but, say, “zombie apocalypse” gets me going; “eschaton” is the word for you want. And the break of dawn can definitely be a kind of revelation. Not to mention that Morning Light as the original sense of Apocalypse’s name makes for a nice parallel to the meaning of Lucifer’s name as “light bringer” or “morning star” even as he came to be known as or equated with Satan, the adversary, evolving into a demonic manifestation of evil and damnation.
Rahs might be the closest pronunciation, off the top of my head. The problem is, some Arabic letters don't have English equivalents and vice versa, so when words are being pronounced by non-Arabic speakers, it can sound a bit off.
DeleteThe other interesting about Apoccalypse having an Arabic name is him being around during the time of Ancient Egypt, long before the Arabs arrived...
wwk5d
We must remember that 'En Sabah Nur' is by no means meant to be a translation to 'Apocalypse', but a birth name to someone who eventually became Apocalypse. And, if X-FACTOR #24 with Set, Sauru, etc. is to be believed, Apocalypse is only the last in long line of monikers adopted by himself, in this case apparently to match the presumed Judeo-Christian surroundings of the late 80's Marvel Comics (readership). Which 'Apocalypse' does poorly. But (hilariously in, ha, light, of the apt Lucifer pointer by Blam), he could hardly have assumed Satan as his persona for this Era when there's Daimon Hellstrom and whatnot aloof in the other corners of the Marvel Universe.
DeleteProbably the concept of the Four Riders of the Apocalypse just was too sweet to pass for the purpose, and the name got reverse-engineered.
For the record, in our translation the guy was just translated as 'Destruction'. The letter board consensus was that it would be stupid if his name was "The Book of Revelation" (in our Lutheran lack of alternative flirry names for various contents of the Bible).
Re: the Arabic name in Ancient Egypt, if we are to be extremely courteous to make it work, En Sabah Nur was named by Baal of the Sandstormers, a riding horde of undisclosed origin (I think). Baal is a name of Semitic language background itself.
DeleteOf course the timing is off a couple of millenia for the development of the Arabic language... unless the Sandstormers really were people from the boring future of ~600 BC and had found Rama-Tut's time machine to take them back in time to the era when their survival of the fittest ethos meant something. That happens, you know.
Sandstormers sound hilariously silly in the post-Darude world, mind you.
ReplyDeleteI first read this in a giant Batman tabloid reprint — Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-51, a Christmas gift that I’m still warmed by the memory of reading for the first time at my grandparents’.
// Batman apparently parks outside Wayne Manor and enters the cave through the house, if the artwork is to be believed. Why he doesn't simply drive into the cave … is unknown -- there's no story reason for him to use an alternate entrance here. //
Um… Then we wouldn’t get that cool shot in the panel you showed, obviously. 8^) Good catch, though; I hadn’t noticed.
// al Ghul reveals … that he figured out the sorts of special gadgets Batman needs to fight crime and he found that Wayne was the only person who had bought such equipment //
O’Neil does have Batman say, basically, “Huh. I gotta fix that,” which is kind-of appreciated even as it’s something he surely would’ve already taken into account. For me that’s a bigger issue than the previous story point about Talia having seen his face, since (a) Talia could by lying for her own reasons, like you said, and (2) her father may not have shared with her his knowledge of Batman’s identity at that point (if he’d known it then, vs. only being prompted to figure it out after Talia met and fell for him). And while Bruce Wayne is a rather public figure in the comics I do like the idea that someone, if not Talia necessarily given who she turns out to be, might find his face familiar without being able to place it; there’s a late-’70s or early-’80s Flash issue in which Heat Wave takes off Flash’s mask when he’s unconscious only to find that, since Barry Allen isn’t as recognizable as, say, Bruce Wayne, he’s still in the dark as to Flash’s actual civilian identity.
// The only failing I find in "Daughter of the Demon" is its ending. It closes on a bizarre cliffhanger, as … we get a caption telling us to watch for future developments in an upcoming issue. //
Since I’ve mostly if not only read this in some collected-edition reprint or another before now, yeah, that last panel really surprised me. It’s even odder than it was with Man-Bat’s saga that this one isn’t picked up right from that point — or at least soon after, with some explanation of what happened next, as you mention. That old tabloid edition of mine jumps straight from the last panel of #232, a.k.a. “Chapter One” in the reprint, with the caption about future developments removed, to “Chapter Two” from Batman #242 on the very next page.
I love those childhood memories tied to certain gifts on Christmas morning. For whatever reason, books always stick out more for me than toys or the like. In relation to a certain imminently upcoming blockbuster movie, I have a very strong memory of reading THE INFINITY GAUNTLET trade paperback (my first exposure to the story) at my grandparents' house as well.
DeleteRegarding Talia and Batman's face, I'm with you that in the pre-internet age presented here, Talia could have seen him unmasked and not recognized him. Nowadays something like that would be way harder to pull off. Considering how famous Bruce Wayne seems to be in-universe, I'm sure every other day there's a story on TMZ about his latest hookup with some model or whatever.
That Flash moment you described sounds really similar to a bit in a JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED episode -- when Lex Luthor finds himself in Flash's body, he decides he should yank off the mask and see who's under it. He stares at himself in a mirror for a beat and then disappointedly says, "I have no idea who this is." Considering both these scenes involved the Flash, I wonder if the JLU episode was homaging the comic?
My original exposure to "Daughter of the Demon" was in the TALES OF THE DEMON trade paperback -- which, similarly to the reprint you describe, omits the closing caption from the story's final panel and then moves directly into the next Ra's al Ghul story, "Swamp Sinister". It's still a little jarring there, but at least it feels like one ongoing narrative. But no matter how it's presented, every time I read it, I find myself thinking, "So... does Batman just sort of -- walk out?"
(Notably, O'Neil's "The Demon's Quest" adaptaion, Batman does attempt to storm out of al Ghul's lair in that scene, but it's after he rescues Robin and before the whole conversation about Talia loving him. Somehow that makes it different for me.)
DeleteI remember that Luthor scene. My personal DCAU rewatch is going way too slowly but I’m really looking forward to hitting Unlimited because, horrors, I think I missed some stuff when it aired.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things about that origin recap interested me, by the way. One is how closely O’Neil & Adams hew to the familiar panels from the first telling of the origin in both words and image. Another is that Batman thinks to himself that he “was not yet old enough to vote” when that bat came through the window in his sitting room at Wayne Manor; he’s almost definitely referring to 21 instead of 18, despite the Amendment lowering the voting age being ratified around the time this issue was on sale, but still.
I agree; I love that the artwork is Adams homaging the original comics. I didn't really catch the bit about Bruce's age, though. I guess it makes sense, though I always figured him being older when the bat crashed into his house. I think the smoking jacket and pipe add a few years (or decades) to his age.
DeleteJohn Byrne owns those two pages, as I recall. He posted a photo of them, framed side by side on the wall of his studio, on his message board years ago.
DeleteOh, I definitely figured him being older at that point, although I’d easily accept him being 21 (or even 18) when he begins to tailor his training towards developing some kind of plan for extralegal/vigilante crusading. Anyway, I know you’re not disinterested in references to notable dates and characters’ ages yourself, so I brought it up. I myself am just about always intrigued (and often frustrated) by specific in-universe markers.